The Israeli film-maker behind a controversial documentary about the Jewish exile from Israel has told pro-Palestinian campaigners that he believes neither Jews or Palestinians have historical claims to Israel.

Ilan Ziv’s film, Searching for Exile: Truth or Myth, was shown on BBC4 on Sunday.

Under-fire MP Patrick Mercer has offered to ask questions in Parliament on behalf of pro-Israel groups.

Following a meeting with Zionist Federation chairman Paul Charney, Mr Mercer said he was willing to put forward questions in the interest of the Jewish community in an attempt to repair relations after he appeared to make an antisemitic remark.

A Muslim preacher argued that the Koran backs Jewish claims to Jerusalem at a Jerusalem Day celebration in London this week.

Rome-based Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi told an audience at Edgware Synagogue that he found it “intolerable” that “no one questions the rights of Catholics to St Peter’s, or of Muslims to Mecca, but so many question the rights of Jews to Jerusalem”.

The Zionist Federation has urged the British government and European Union to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.

In a campaign launched this week, the ZF claimed the IRG was responsible for arms transfers to terrorist groups, had worked with al-Qaeda, backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, and had masterminded attacks against British citizens abroad.